Campsites,Italy # 9of13

One night was spent in a large campsite right near the dock in Punta Sabbioni, a few vaporetto minutes from Venice. The previous couple of nights had been spent at the Union Lido campsite, but it had too many rules and regulations for us. This one was not so nice, but it served our needs for a place to park the camper for the night. We were here to see Venice, we were not here (and we never are) looking for a place just to camp.

We easily found Torino’s main campsite on the right bank of the River Po, then found it had been closed by the police because of a drug problem among the regular, and sometimes permanent “campers.” We were directed across the river to a very steep street, with very, very narrow switch-back curves, so sharp we had to back and turn again. This campsite was also closed, but the campsite manager answered our knock, and invited us to park just outside the gate, next to his home.

When we arrived at the parking lot for Sacra di San Michele, it was so foggy we could hardly see the trees at the side of the road. We walked up the hill in the fog, and could finally see Sacra di San Michele, dimly in the distance. We were the only visitors in Sacra di San Michele that day. It’s obvious this place does not get all the tourists it deserves, but then maybe that’s part of its charm. Part way down the hill from Sacra di San Michele, in Avigliana, we found a campground, so in we went, early in the afternoon, hoping the weather would clear for a better view the next morning. Should the sun come out this afternoon, or in the morning, we are only a few miles from that incredible place. But no such luck

The campground we selected near Carrera was one of dozens, and would have held thousands of people when all the permanently parked trailers are filled, and there are plenty of empty camping spaces available for over-night, or short time visitors. Carrera must be a “zoo” in August. This is one of the very few places where the government had posted signs saying the water is polluted. So we bought some drinking water. Huge white scars, resulting from quarrying marble near Carrara for thousands of years, are visible at the top of Monte Sagro, and enormous blocks and slabs of marble sit in business lots along miles and miles of highway. A million tons of marble waiting to be cut and polished. This is where the marble for Michelangelo’s Statue of David was quarried, so we bought a marble rolling pin for our kitchen, that I call "David's armpit."